. Crossing the Bridge to Higher Mathematics: Using a Modified Moore Approach to Assist Students Transitioning to Higher Mathematics 1035-F1-900 M. Padraig M. M. McLoughlin, Ph.D. 116C Lytle Hall, Department of Mathematics, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Kutztown, Pennsylvania 19530
[email protected] Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mathematical Association of America San Diego, CA January 6, 2008 1 Abstract Crossing the Bridge to Higher Mathematics: Using a Modified Moore Approach to Assist Students Transitioning to Higher Mathematics M. Padraig M. M. McLoughlin Department of Mathematics, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania The author of this paper submits that a mathematics student needs to learn to conjecture and prove or disprove said conjecture. Ergo, the purpose of the pa- per is to submit the thesis that learning requires doing; only through inquiry is learning achieved, and hence this paper proposes a programme of use of a modified Moore method in a Bridge to Higher Mathematics course to teach students how to do, critique, or analyse proofs, counterexamples, examples, or counter-arguments. Furthermore, the author of this paper opines that set theory should be the core of the course with logic and predicate calculus as antecedents to the set theory, and number theory, cardinal and ordinal theory, or beginning topology of the R as consequents of set theory. The author of this paper has experienced teaching such a course for approx- imately fifteen years; mostly teaching the course at a historically black college. The paper is organised such that in the first part of the paper justification for use of a modified Moore approach - - both pedagogical and practical justification are submitted.